Through the Mirror- Again!
by Big Words Make Me Sick
Summary: It's been 2 years since Twilight retrieved her crown from Sunset Shimmer, and when a new pony arrives in Ponyville, Twilight thinks the mirror has something to do with it. Something's amiss in Equestria, and Twilight wants to get to the bottom of it.
1. Chapter 1: Ember's Arrival

It's been a little over two years since the portal between Equestria and Earth opened, and Twilight had a feeling that something would happen- anything, really. She approached Princess Celestia at her throne, Spike on her back. The girls were back at home: Twilight didn't want to scare them, so she said that this trip was for a top secret meeting between the princesses.

"Princess Celestia, I have the feeling that keeping the portal in tact might have been a mistake. What if somepony happens to.. maybe.. fall into the portal? It is just in front of the school, and if anypony is quite as clumsy as I am, I can see somepony falling through. That could expose us, and make us vulnerable to invasion, couldn't it?"

Princess Celestia nodded. "I've thought many times about the portal since the incident with Sunset Shimmer, Princess Twilight, and fortunately, we have had royal guard keeping a watchful eye on it for years now."

Twilight frowned, but nodded, feeling she should trust Princess Celestia's judgement no matter what. Something was eating away at her, though. Sunset shimmer got past the guards, who says nopony else could?

A day later, as Twilight Sparkle and Spike stepped off of the train, onto the platform, she was greeted by her friends. Pinkie Pie threw glitter and confetti, blowing a party horn, "Welcome home!" she squealed, and turned, hopping away to take lead for the trip to Apple Acres. Twilight followed close behind, bombarded by questions from the others.

Applejack walked close to Twilight, keeping her step in time with hers. "So, how did the meetin' go, Twilight?" she asked.

"Yes, how did it go?" Rarity chimed, and the girls looked at her with excited gazes, eager to hear any news first-hoof.. Aside from Pinkie, who was a little oblivious to the potential urgency of the meeting.

Twilight shook her head knowingly, and let out a light chuckle. "It was just for all of us to touch base and make sure nothing suspicious was going on in any of the kingdoms," although Twilight didn't consider Ponyville her kingdom, she did feel it was her duty to protect her friends at home, "and everypony is quite alright."

Rainbow Dash swooped down, bearing a great big grin and said, "Trust me, Twilight, if anypony threatens any of our friends, you can be sure I'll give em a beating they won't forget!" she threw a few punches at an invisible target, and everypony had a good laugh.

The next few days went quite well, all was normal, until a new pony arrived on the platform. She looked tired. Her coat was a pastel orange, and her cutie mark was covered by the cape draped over her back. Her ginger mane and tail were messy, and she wore a big yellow bow on her head. Her eyes met Twilight's, and they lit up. Twilight was just on her way to put a package for her brother on the train until she saw her. As Twilight lifted the box and put it on the train, giving the okay to the conductor, she looked curiously at the new pony, studying her freckled face. The new pony approached her first.

"Hello, Twilight. M-my name is Ember Note," she swallowed, and her ears stayed low, feeling a bit intimidated, as Ember's height was less than average, so Twilight almost towered over her, "I was told I would find you here, in.. P-Ponyville, is it..?" she asked, trying so hard to maintain eye contact.

Twilight furrowed her eyebrows and tilted her head a little, Spike finally catching up to her and taking a deep breath. As Spike caught sight of Ember, his eyes lit up and a stupid smile took over half of his face. "Who is this, Twilight?" he asked, sitting before her.

Twilight made a face, "Ember Note, apparently. Well, it's nice to meet you, Ember," she said, finally smiling. Though she could feel something different about this pony, she refused to be anything but kind to her, "And yes, welcome to Ponyville."

Ember breathed a sigh of relief and smiled, dropping down to a sitting position. She finally turned to look at Spike, who hadn't taken his eyes off of her, "W-well hello there, M-Mister.. Dragon?"

Spike gasped, "How did you know that was my last name? Are you psychic? Cool.." he said, his eyes glazing over as he took in her beauty again.

Ember let out a nervous laugh, and Twilight put a gentle hoof on her shoulder, "You seem nervous, Ember, let me show you around so you can get a feel for Ponyville. We can talk about what you came here for after you get settled."

Ember nodded, standing once more, and letting Twilight take lead to the library, Spike following closely behind.

The girls were all in Twilight's library, and Pinkie Pie was the first to notice the new face.

"Yippee! Another new friend! Hi there, I'm Pinkie Pie! I can tell you're new, since I've never seen you around here! Wowee, you're short! What's your name?" she asked, and as Ember opened her mouth to speak, Pinkie Pie blurted, "Wait! Lemme guess! Soft but fiery eyes, orange mane," she lifted Ember's cape, "Bass note and a measure for a cutie mark… I'm gonna say… Applebloom! Wait, no, that's her sister.." she said, pointing to Applejack.  
Ember backed up a little, her ears lowering, and Rarity spoke up.

"Ember Note," she said, smiling as she approached her, more calm than Pinkie Pie. Ember looked confused, and it showed on her face, "It's embroidered on your cape, dear," she finished.

Ember let out a little laugh, and nodded, feeling a little silly.  
"Nice to meet you, Ember, you can call me Rarity," she said.

"How's it going, I'm Rainbow Dash," Rainbow Dash said with a knowing smile as she flew over and lowered herself to the floor. Applejack followed suit, introducing herself as well.

Fluttershy and Ember locked eyes, and she approached Fluttershy, voice soft as she said, "Well.. What's your name?"

Fluttershy was a bit taken aback by Ember's gentle voice, and with a little smile and worried eyes, she said, "Fluttershy."

"Nice to meet you, Fluttershy," she said, somehow confident before the beautiful pony. Fluttershy stood a little straighter as she looked down at the short girl, and nodded, "You too, Ember.."

Twilight smiled, and stepped into the middle of the room, "Ember, you're welcome to stay here with me, and if not, I'm sure everypony else would gladly open up their homes for you."

Fluttershy nodded, as did the other girls, but Ember quickly said, "I'd like to stay with Fluttershy."

Twilight raised an eyebrow, and laughed a little, "I don't know if she'd really be.."

"Of course you can stay with me, Ember, I'm glad to allow anypony in need of a place to stay to share my home with me."

Twilight was half inclined to believe Ember cast a spell on Fluttershy, but she had no horn, so she let it go. For now.


	2. Chapter 2: Admittance

Ember and the girls spoke for a while, and Twilight noticed that she didn't speak much, she mostly listened.

Interrupting something Pinkie Pie was saying about cake, she said, "So, Ember, where are you from?"

Ember looked like she was taken off guard, and Spike scooted close to her, curious to know more about the pony.

"W-well.. I uh.. come from.. Manhattan," she said. That was a lie. She had heard the town name come up in conversation.

"MANEHATTAN?" Rarity roared, a fire in her voice, "What are you, dear, an up and coming designer? An actress? A singer?" she asked eagerly, suddenly much more interested in the conversation.

Fluttershy was also paying exceptional attention.

"Uh.." Ember stuttered a bit, as she did not say Manehattan. She said Manhattan. Dodging a bullet, she smiled, "Uh.. yes. Manehattan. But no, I'm actually just a waitress.." she said, much to Rarity's disappointment. Also a lie.

Twilight made a face, and nodded, taking in her words carefully.

"I kind of just set foot here by mistake, I was actually trying to see Princess Celestia, but I asked somebody at the train station for the nearest available princess, and they told me to come to Ponyville."

Twilight saw that no one else caught her saying 'foot' and 'somebody', and tried so hard to brush it off as Manehattan slang.

"Well, you came to the right place. Twilight here is one of the kindest ponies I've ever met, and if anypony knows a thing or two about makin' friends, it's her," Applejack said with a bright smile.

"But everypony knows that Applejack is the most hospitable pony around, and you won't find anypony who can make as many foods out of apples as she can," Twilight said.

"Rarity is the town designer, and Rainbow Dash is the jester," Applejack said with a little snicker.

Rainbow Dash sneered at her, and stuck her tongue out, to which Applejack replied with an eyeroll and a grin.

Ember couldn't help but giggle a little, and looked over at Fluttershy, "So what do you do?" she asked, blowing a stray hair from her eyes.

"I just tend to every creature, critter, and creepy crawler that comes my way," she replied, smiling.

"Breath-taking _and _kind-hearted," Ember swooned, not realizing she spoke out loud.

Fluttershy blushed, and lowered her head, her hair covering her right eye. The other girls couldn't help but smile.

When Ember finally realized she had thought aloud, she cleared her throat and stood up straight. Her face was a little pink. Her body was confusing her.

Later that evening, Fluttershy and Ember were on their way to the cottage from the library.

"You know, I think I need to tell you something, Fluttershy.. I need to confide in someone, and I really can't think of anyone better than you."

"You can tell me anything, Ember, anything you say to me is between us," Fluttershy said honestly.

As they entered the cottage, Fluttershy motioned for Ember to be quiet, as Angel was sleeping. When they walked into Fluttershy's room, Ember sat on the bed, and Fluttershy did as well.

"It's so hard to come to terms with everything, Fluttershy.."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean.. I.."

Ember shook her head, lowering it and taking a deep breath.

"I _mean _that I'm not from here. Not just Ponyville, but from Equestria."  
"That can't be true, Ember, that would mean you were some type of.. alien. Aliens aren't real..."

"I _know _everybody knows about the mirror, Fluttershy."

Fluttershy looked surprised, "The mirror.. You mean.. the one Sunset Shimmer came from?"

Ember smiled, "The very same. You know, everyone seemed very disoriented about Twilight Sparkle's time in that world. Everyone remembered her, but that last night she was there.. something happened that no one can remember, so no one talks about it. They just know that the front of the school was destroyed." she said,

"And I wasn't there the night that happened. What I do know, however, is that before all of the events that night occured, I witnessed Sunset Shimmer's threat to break the portal. Ever since, I've been utterly curious."

Fluttershy looked so confused, but was hanging on to every word that escaped Ember's mouth.

"I just thought she was trying to destroy school property, because Sunset was really.. Just plain awful. I remember hearing, though, that the portal would be closing. Getting closer to Sunset as she attempted to regain respect from her schoolmates made this a whole lot easier. I also thought real hard for a while, something nobody seemed to do, and I think in Twilight's desperation, she didn't realize that if Sunset had tried to break the portal, the sledgehammer would have just flown through, into Equestria. All of the events that transpired in my world never would have happened, if Twilight had just stopped, and thought. I try not to think about it, though, and appreciate the opportunity I was given,"

"Anyway, gaining the respect and trust of Sunset Shimmer led to her sharing her knowledge of the portal with me .I did the math, and stepped through the portal the very moment it opened. I spent days with Princess Celestia, as she shared what knowledge _she _had of the portal. I lied to Twilight and said that I was looking for Celestia, when in reality, it was her I had been trying to find all along. Twilight triggered something that day in my world, and her mere existence plagued us from the moment she stepped through that portal. It is too late for me to go home now via the portal, but as fate would have it, you all possess magic that doesn't exist in our world, at least from what I know. I can't share this with everyone else, as the plan would move too fast. It means a lot to me that you listened."

Fluttershy smiled, and nodded, trying to pretend she could comprehend all the information she had been given. All she knew was that her task was to keep this to herself. Though, it's a bit difficult to spread information you don't quite understand. So she supposed it all worked out for everyone in the end.

Ember leaned toward Fluttershy, and nuzzled her head with hers. "Thanks, friend," she said, and Fluttershy let out a breathy giggle and replied with a quiet "Mhm.."

They both went to bed.


End file.
